(1) Field of the Invention
The present application provides a packaging process for consumable goods. In particular, this application discloses processes for packaging consumable goods with water-soluble packaging materials. The process described is suitable, for example, for the packaging of fillings from the group of the washing or cleaning compositions, cosmetics, surface treatment compositions, pharmaceuticals, bodycare compositions, agrochemical assistants, adhesives, building materials, dyes or foods.
Consumable goods, for example, washing or cleaning compositions, are nowadays available to the consumer in various supply forms. In addition to powders and granules, this range also encompasses, for example, concentrates in the form of extruded or tableted compositions. These solid, concentrated or compacted supply forms differ by a reduced volume per metered unit and thus lower the costs of packaging and transport. Furthermore, the tablets satisfy the wish of the consumer for a simplified dosage routine.
As alternatives to the above-described particulate or compacted compositions, solid or liquid compositions which have a water-soluble or water-dispersible envelope have increasingly been described in the last few years. Like the tablets, these compositions feature simplified dosage, since they can be dosed together with the water-soluble envelope, but they secondly also simultaneously enable the formulation of liquid or pulverulent compositions which feature better dissolution and more rapid activity compared to the compacted fillings.
For the production and spatial configuration of these water-soluble packagings, a series of different processes are available to those skilled in the art. These processes include bottle-blowing, injection molding and different thermoforming processes. Compared to the tablets, the compositions produced by these processes generally feature improved dissolution properties, but the volume of these compositions per metered unit, owing to the lack of compaction, is at the same time greater than the volume of these tablets comparable in performance per metered unit. However, this increased volume gives rise to problems in the dosage of these compositions, for example, in the dosage of washing or cleaning compositions via the detergent drawer of washing machines or machine dishwashers. Associated with this increased volume, the packaged compositions produced by means of thermoforming processes, in particular, feature an unattractive appearance and tactile properties.
(2) Description of Related Art, Including Information Disclosed Under 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.97 and 1.98
The pouches are flaccid and not dimensionally stable; the packaging material exhibits creases and distortions visible to the naked eye. To solve this problem, WO 02/16206 (Reckitt Benckiser) discloses a process for producing inflated, water-soluble vessels in which the packaged ingredients include at least one substance which releases a gas after the pouch has been sealed and thus increases the internal pressure of the pouch. Such a process has the disadvantage that the packaged compositions have to comprise at least one substance releasing such a gas and, in the event of damage to the vessel, lose their advantageous appearance and tactile properties within a short time. Finally, a not inconsiderable part of the volume of a metered unit is taken up by a gas or gas mixture in these compositions.